


You're A Sight to Behold (even in my head)

by I_am_a_Ruin



Series: Klance Soulmate AU [1]
Category: Voltron: Legendary Defender
Genre: Alternate Universe - College/University, Author is sick, Bisexual Allura (Voltron), Bisexual Lance (Voltron), Fluff, Gay Keith (Voltron), Keith forgets to eat, Keith has walls, Lactose Intolerant Keith, Lance (Voltron) is a Mess, Lesbian Pidge | Katie Holt, M/M, Pining, Soulmates, Time Skips, both boys are dumb, keith gets a little sick, so this may suck a little, super insecure, the pallura is kinda... super vague, you gotta squint for it
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2018-04-21
Updated: 2018-08-23
Packaged: 2019-04-26 00:40:12
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 3
Words: 6,905
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/14390490
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/I_am_a_Ruin/pseuds/I_am_a_Ruin
Summary: When Keith finally hears from his soulmate, it's nothing he was expecting. And as time goes on, it becomes harder to introduce himself.





	1. Chapter 1

**Author's Note:**

  * Inspired by [If We Stop Keeping a Secret](https://archiveofourown.org/works/14311983) by [the_afterlight](https://archiveofourown.org/users/the_afterlight/pseuds/the_afterlight). 



> My first Klance fic. So go easy on me.  
> Apologies if this sucks. Like I said, it's my first time writing with these characters. And I have a cold. But I tried hard.

It wasn’t how he imagined it would be. Not having someone to be an example growing up, he had to lean on what he gleaned from Shiro, which wasn’t much, honestly. Shiro didn’t like talking about it. It was fairly personal. Keith didn’t blame him. Shiro had always made it seem like this small thing, something that wouldn’t take up too much of his attention span. He hadn’t thought it’d be so goddamn annoying. Maybe Shiro was just better at focusing than Keith was.

It started out as a heaviness in his head, like there wasn’t enough room. He felt crowded, too many thoughts in his head. It felt like panic. It was just a general extra presence in his head, for awhile. It distracted him in class and, at first, gave him painful headaches. Shiro gave him some tips on how to relieve the pain, which really helped. He took to keeping the peppermint oil in his pocket, which was sort of lame but necessary. 

One day, while he was applying the peppermint oil to his temples so he could actually try to work on his homework, words echoed in his head, a voice that was definitely not his. 

_ “So I have to be the first one to say something, soulmate?” _

It was amused and distinctly  _ male.  _ Keith had known he was gay for quite awhile, but having it confirmed was… well. It was nice. He was trying to figure out a way to respond when the voice just continued. 

_ “Not that I really mind. I think it’s cute when girls are shy.” _

Keith bit his tongue hard. He wasn’t sure if he was angry or just very hurt. Of fucking course the universe would do this to him, like he hadn’t had it bad enough. Of course his soulmate would want women. Why the fuck not.

_ “It’s okay. Take your time. I’m Lance by the way.”  _

Keith actually dropped his peppermint oil. No. No, no, no. This was beyond ridiculous. Smooth-talking, flirtatious, cocky, egotistical Lance goddamn McClain was his soulmate. It was like his life was one big joke. Lance, who was attracted to any female that breathed and was not afraid to show it. Lance was the most annoying person he could think of. He was a selfish prick. Keith tried to figure out how to shut out Lance entirely without just flat out telling him to shove off. He wasn’t sure what he did, but suddenly his head was blissfully empty. Or, at least, roomier. It felt weird, not to have that second presence. It was lonely. 

He shook the thoughts away and bent down to pick up his oil. Luckily, it wasn’t broken. He applied it, put it away, and decided to ditch the homework idea, and just curl up under his covers. He needed to sleep on this craziness.

****

He was  _ not  _ falling for Lance. Sure, Lance was attractive. Maddeningly so. And maybe he got a little jealous when he saw Lance flirting with other girls. No, wait.  _ Annoyed.  _ Not jealous. Lance was just flat out obnoxious. He didn’t pay attention to where he was going in the hall and sometimes knocked people over (even though he called apologies over his shoulder) in his rush to get to class or wherever. Lance was always late to their shared Intro to Physics class. (Probably because it was immediately after lunch and Lance almost never ate on campus, choosing to go out with the friends he also had the class with.) Not that Keith was paying any particular attention to him. Lance was just sort of hard to ignore. He made an entrance, and he did it loudly. 

It was just…. Well, Lance  _ was  _ his soulmate. And he sort of felt a little bad for ignoring him. Lance talked to him a lot. Especially during Physics. (The professor was super boring.) He’d chatter about all kinds of random shit, like his family, or the yummy food his friend Hunk had made for dinner the night before, or just flirt in general. It only made Keith blush a little. Mostly it just stung, because they were obviously with a female recipient in mind. 

That didn’t mean it didn’t feel like being sucker-punched in the stomach when Lance finally spoke about crushes. 

_ “So I kinda have this crush. I feel bad, because, like. I mean, I have you, you know. But you still haven’t said anything. Which is cool. I just get this impression you aren’t ready. I guess I don’t really mind. You just… can’t be mad at me for liking other people, you know? It’s not like I’m going to pursue it or anything. Her name is Allura. She’s super pretty and smart. I don’t know. I bet you’re prettier and smarter, but… you won’t let me find out so. Just thought I’d tell you. Hope you’re having a good day.” _

Lance was his soulmate, after all. And it made anger churn deep inside him to think about this kid liking someone else. He pulled out his phone, even though he was sitting in a lecture and the prof was super strict. He needed to see who Allura was. It didn’t take him long, scrolling through the school’s social media. She had a pretty unique name. 

She  _ was  _ pretty. The kind of pretty Keith couldn’t even fault Lance for being attracted to. If Keith was straight, he’d… well. He understood. It only pissed him off more. 

_ “You’re mad.” _

Fucking, duh. Of course he was mad. He wanted to be the kind of… whatever that Lance was attracted to. Having a soulmate shouldn’t be so hard. 

_ “I’d apologize, but… honestly. You don’t have any right to be mad, you know. It’s not like you’re trying. Like at all.”  _

How dare he. How  _ dare  _ he. Of course Keith wasn’t trying. Lance liked girls. That was sort of hard to compete with when you were undeniably male. Lance wasn’t giving him a chance. He put his walls back up, shut Lance out. He didn’t want to deal with this right now. 

“Mr. Kogane, if your phone is more interesting than my class, you are more than welcome to leave.” The teacher frowned, arms crossed, at the front of the room. The rest of the class turned to stare Keith down and he flushed. 

“No, sir.” He mumbled, putting his phone away.

****

He definitely didn’t care. But he could feel the wave of worry filling his head. It was usually easy to determine who’s emotions were whose. Lance was sunshiney, annoyingly happy all the goddamn time. But today, there wasn’t any grain of happiness. So it took Keith longer than usual to decide if it was himself who was stressed out or Lance.

Lance probably was just fretting over the finals coming up. Shiro and Keith had been up for hours, living off off espresso-spiked coffee, studying. But this felt different. It was deeper, had more substance. And it wasn’t an exhausted sort of stress like Keith felt. 

He subconsciously found trying to express something comforting. He was worried about him, dammit it all. He imagined warm hugs and hand holding and kittens, hoping some of the energy of it would pass on to Lance.

There was a bitter chuckle resounding in his head. A sigh. 

_ “Can’t hide anything from you. I don’t know how you do it, shut me out. I’ve tried. I just can’t. I guess I just really like knowing you’re there. Thanks for trying to help.” _

Keith smiled to himself, proud that Lance appreciated what he did. It didn’t last though, Lance’s negative energy overpowering him. He didn’t mean to let Lance know how much it worried him, but he also was too scared to put his guards up. Lance needed him and that was too important.

_ “Sorry. I didn’t mean to worry you. I know you probably have a lot on your plate. I know for a fact you haven’t slept enough. Which you should do, by the way. Do you mind if I tell you something?” _

Keith was tempted to respond, but everything was holding him back. He couldn’t, not even able to manage a noise of affirmation. Lance scared him more than he wanted to admit. He… was terrified Lance would find out he was chained to a guy and reject him, give up the idea of soulmates and start dating all the girls that fawned over him. Girls like Allura. Keith wasn’t blind. He’d seen the way she looked at Lance. The way he wanted Lance to look at  _ him.  _

_ “Sorry, that was cheap. I just… I really wish you’d talk to me. You know how I told you I had a crush on Allura? Well, I have a new crush.” _

That’s what all this was about? Keith scoffed, earning himself a look from Shiro who was actually trying to study. He started to shut Lance out and go back to what he should be doing, should be studying, but he could feel Lance resisting.

_ “Please don’t. I really need to tell you this. It’s kind of eating me up.” _

Keith rolled his eyes, but couldn’t bring himself to do it. He hated it, but Lance could ask anything of him and Keith would give him it. Even if it was helping the boy get a girlfriend. 

_ “It’s this kid in one of my classes. And they’ve made me start wondering about some stuff. Like about why you maybe don’t talk to me.” _

Keith didn’t miss the gender neutral pronouns. It probably didn’t mean anything. But maybe it did.

_ “I think… I think I jumped to a lot of conclusions. Like about you being shy. Cuz I kind of am starting to get this impression that you aren’t shy. Like… you’re obviously super reserved. But those are two different things. I guess I’m just going to say it and hope you don’t hate me or find me disgusting. I mean… you must be my soulmate for a reason. I have a crush on a boy.” _

His blood was cold and his face was painfully hot and his whole body just completely malfunctioned. His heart wasn’t beating and he couldn’t breathe.

_ “I think I’m bi. And I really can’t tell what you’re feeling right now and I think it’s scares me more than my own stupid sexuality. But see… I’m worried that you’ll either hate me for liking guys… or that you are a guy.” _

Keith wanted to say something for the first time since he felt Lance in his head. He wanted it more than anything. He just didn’t know what to say. It had been a long time.

_ “He’s… I don’t know him very well. Like less than Allura. I’m not even sure why I like him so much. Because I sort of thought I hated him. He’s kind of a jerk, you know? But… he’s stupidly cute? Even though he has, like, the worst sense of fashion.”  _

Lance was rambling and Keith was pretty sure it was to avoid finding out what Keith was thinking. Keith wasn’t sure what he was thinking. Definitely jealousy for this mystery boy. It hurt less, knowing that he had an actual chance now, but it also hurt more. It hurt infinitely more knowing he  _ stood a chance _ but Lance  _ still  _ liked someone else.

_ “Sorry. Please… please talk to me. I’ve been trying not to rush you but I just… I can’t wait any longer. I need… I need to know.”  _

Keith stood up. He wasn’t sure why he was standing. But he needed to be somewhere, anywhere, that wasn’t this library. Somewhere that wasn’t so public. He needed time to think. Everything was sluggish. His head pounded. He couldn’t fucking think. Everything was so much and he was so tired and he couldn’t remember the last time he ate. He should do that, but he was too tired and his stomach rebelled at the thought of food, churning hard. 

He was dizzy, not seeing anything. Lance was chattering faintly in his ear, but he couldn’t make it out. There was definite panic. Maybe his, maybe Lance’s. Probably both. And then the world turned dark, his legs giving out. Everything ran quiet.

*****

He wasn’t sure which voice he was aware of first. Lance was chanting in his head, a mantra consisting of  _ “Hey, hey. Are you okay? What’s going on? I almost passed out because of how strong whatever that was. I’m worried. Are you okay?” _

Shiro was asking all kinds of questions, sensible things about the day and his name and how old he was. He was too tired to process any of it for a while. There was light shining in his eyes. He didn’t like it. He groaned, holding a hand up weakly to shield his eyes.

“Keith. Come on, tell me what day it is.” Shiro insisted.

“I don’t know. Thursday?” He mumbled, throat dry and raspy.

“Do you know what happened?” Shiro was asking, a glass of water held in front of his face. Someone helped him sit up, a boy Keith didn’t recognize with short, choppy, brunet hair.

He accepted the water, sipping at it, and took a moment to think about Shiro’s question.

“His blood sugar dropped. You should probably get your friend something to eat, like, as soon as possible.” the kid said wisely. Nevermind. She was a girl. “When was the last time you ate?”

Keith squinted at her. “Uh… Dunno. It’s been awhile.”

“Exactly. Get him some food. Even orange juice would work.” the girl nodded, looking up at Shiro. She was very short, even kneeling, she was smaller than him. Most people were smaller than Shiro, of course, but she was even dwarfed by Keith.

“I’m okay.” Keith shook his head.

She rolled her eyes. “I don’t think so. People who are just fine do not just pass out randomly. Your body needs food.”

_ “Come on, what’s going on. I can’t hardly see. Are you okay?” _

Keith huffed. “Fine. I suppose a banana or something wouldn’t be the worst thing ever.” It was just to shut Lance up, really. That, and he was  _ starving.  _

“After you get something to eat, you should make sure you eat regularly. Your body needs fuel.” The kid was saying, arms crossed. 

Keith nodded. “Yeah. Thanks. What’s your name?”

“Uh, Katie. But everyone calls me Pidge.” The girl, Pidge, shrugged.

“Keith.” 

Shiro helped Keith to his feet. “Nice to meet you, Pidge. Thanks for your help. I’ll make sure he gets something to eat. We’ve both just been a little focused on studying.”

“I get it. My girlfriend won’t shut up about how hard finals are. She’s a sophomore.” Pidge nodded. “Don’t let it happen again though.”

They nodded and excused themselves. Shiro walked Keith, who was leaning on him heavily because his legs were extremely wobbly, to the nearest coffee shop. Luckily there was one right outside the library. Less lucky, Lance was sitting alone at one of the tables. 

He looked awful. His hair was a mess and his face was pale. Homework was spread out in front of him but he wasn’t working on it. His eyebrows were furrowed and he looked deep in thought. 

_ “Dude, I’m freaking out. Please tell me you’re okay. I don’t know a lot about soulmates, but like. I’m scared that… That like you’re dying or something.” _

Keith almost laughed, glancing over at Lance as he took small bites out of his sandwich. The bacon was overdone and the egg was lukewarm but he didn’t even care. It tasted like heaven right now. 

_ “I’m not dying.” _

He kept his eyes trained on Lance’s table, not sure if the way his own hands were shaking was a side effect from the low blood sugar or the sudden surge of fear in his veins. Lance’s jaw actually dropped which was sort of endearing. There was several beats of silence, and Keith prepared himself, despite everything Lance had said, for the other to reject him instantly.

_ “So what’s going on?”  _ Lance’s words were cautious and mixed with too many emotions for Keith to discern them.

_ “Little low blood sugar. I’m fine. Eating a sandwich right now.” _

_ “You don’t feel fine.”  _ Stubborn but weirdly affectionate. 

_ “I didn’t dream you telling me you were bi. Did I? Because… I sort of passed out. And-” _

_ “No. You didn’t, I’m… really sorry. I guess I’m kind of an idiot.” _

_ “Yeah, you are.”  _ Keith found himself laughing quietly to himself and Shiro looked up from his textbook questioningly. Keith just shot him an ‘I’ll tell you later’ look. 

_ “You’re mean. I think I liked silent you better.” _

Keith smirked to himself, taking another bite of his subpar sandwich.  _ “No you don’t.” _

_ “Whatever. So are you ever going to tell me your name or am I going to have to wait another six months to find that out too?” _

Keith mulled that over for a few seconds. They were sitting pretty close together. It was a small coffee shop. Not busy by any means either. It was a rare nice day, so almost everyone was outside enjoying the warm weather while it lasted. He could get up and walk over to Lance right now and tell him. Tell him everything. But what if Lance just… took one look at him and decided he deserved a better soulmate? Someone not so messed up as Keith was. 

_ “I can practically hear you degrading yourself. Knock it off.”  _ Lance was smiling at his table, doodling absently on one of his notebooks. 

Keith wished he could see what he was drawing.

_ “Who’s the boy you like?”  _ he asked, trying to avoid telling Lance his name quite yet.

Lance was blushing and it was cute as fuck. God, Keith had it so bad. He almost didn’t care that the blush wasn’t for him.

_ You, idiot.” _

Damn, that was smooth. He forgot Lance could do that sometimes. It was easy to ignore and roll his eyes at when the lines didn’t actually apply to him. But that. That made him feel warm and stupidly giddy.

_ “Uh… I don’t know why it’s so much harder to tell you about this then it was with Allura. Speaking of, did you know she’s bi too?” _

_ “Stop rambling, Lance.”  _ Keith retorted, wanting to gag at the affection in the way he… thought it? Whatever. It was totally lacking his usual bite.

_ “Keith.” _

Keith could feel the sandwich being mauled in his hands, but he couldn’t loosen his grip on it. 

_ “What?” _

_ “His name. His name is Keith.” _

*****

_ “Did I do something wrong? That’s the longest you’ve ever shut me out.”  _

Lance sounded extremely annoyed and a tad hurt. Keith felt bad, but he was too busy working up the nerve to introduce himself. He had kept the walls up all through finals with the excuse of he needed the focus. 

And then came winter break. One thing about soulmates was that they had to be in a fairly decent range in order to communicate. And Lance spent his break in Cuba and Keith with Shiro and his family. So, he had a good reason. But once he got back to school, he still couldn’t bring himself to say anything to Lance.

Lance had a crush on  _ him.  _ And that was a lot to process. It was one thing to be someone’s soulmate. It wasn’t like they had a choice in the matter. Sure, you didn’t have to stick with your soulmate. But… that was beside the point. The point was… Lance  _ liked  _ him. Liked him without knowing he was his soulmate. Whatever. It meant a lot to him. And it was really hard to understand.

_ “I wasn’t  _ ignoring  _ you. We were gone.”  _ It sounded lame, even in his own head.

_ “We’ve been back for two weeks, dude.”  _ Lance snapped. 

_ “I’m sorry. You didn’t do anything. I just… had a lot to think about.” _

_ “Is this about me assuming you were a girl? Because I’m really sorry about that.”  _ Lance sounded more desperate than actually upset and it made Keith’s heart throb.

_ “No. I guess I kind of get it.”  _

_ “Is this about Keith then? I knew you were mad about Allura but-” _

_ “Shut up for a second. I’m trying to tell you something.”  _ Lance fell quiet, though Keith could feel the annoyance buzzing through him. He took a deep breath, trying to scrap up his courage.  _ “I don’t know how to tell you. Do you think we could meet?”  _

The annoyance quickly faded into powerful excitement. It made Keith smile a little. 

_ “Does that mean I’m allowed to talk now?”  _ Lance was teasing him. But Keith just waited for a response, refusing to give in to it. He was too jittery for the taunting right then. Luckily, Lance seemed to sense that.  _ “I don’t have class for an hour. We could… I don’t know. Do you know where the science building is? They have this cool room for the Gaming Club and I know for a fact it’s empty right now. We could meet there.”  _

Keith agreed and Lance gave him the room number. He told his Shiro he was going out, shrugged his winter coat on, and walked out. It was frigid out, despite the lack of any snow on the ground. Thick grey clouds filled the sky, blocking out any sunlight that might have made the day more bearable. He hardly felt it, even though his whole body was trembling. All he could think about was how he was going to be meeting Lance any second now.

It was a ten minute walk to the Science hall because it was across campus from Keith’s dorm. He resented those ten minutes, because it gave him plenty of time to panic. And it went straight to his stomach. Sure, Lance had a crush on him. That didn’t mean he wanted to be with Keith  _ forever.  _ Crushes were fleeting little feelings of infatuation. They hardly ever called for any kind of commitment. 

He found himself in the room before he could talk himself out of it. And Lance was already there, playing on his phone. Too late to back out. Lance glanced up from his phone and smiled when he saw Keith. 

“Oh. Hi. I’m… I’m sort of waiting for someone. But I can leave if you want.” 

Keith could feel the flusteredness rolling off Lance and it wasn’t just because they had a mental connection. Lance wouldn’t meet his eyes and he was gesturing way more than usual. Lance wasn’t thinking. Keith had to think for him.

“Lance.” he thought and said it at the same time, hoping the simple word would be enough for it to click in Lance’s head. 

The boy dropped his backpack and just stared at Keith for a moment, clearly flabbergasted. It stung. A lot. Keith almost turned back around and walked out. Bought a plane ticket somewhere, anywhere, far away from Lance. But then Lance was smiling  _ hard.  _

“So  _ you’re  _ my soulmate, huh?”


	2. Author's Note (Important)

Okie dokie folks. So this is just going to be a quick explanation to what's going on with this story for any of you curious. 

I've come to the realization that as much as I love this idea, I can't work further with it. At least, not where it is right now. Instead, I'm going to scrap this and start again. The reboot of this story is going to have some simalar elements but is overall going to be quite different. This tiny unfinished series will be changed so that the first chapter is apart of the whole instead of two separate works and it will be marked as finished. I will leave this up because people seem to really enjoy it even though it was written well before I had a true understanding for these characters, lol. Thanks for the reviews guys, I hope the new version will be just as, if not more, enjoyable for all of you!  
A few warnings for the new story:   
It's going to be waaaaay sadder. Angst is just an area I have a greater strength with writing and there are some elements I really wanted to incorporate into this that I now believe I can properly handle instead of skimming over the way I did before. It will include much more drawn out pining and Keith trying harder to ignore Lance; more in-depth from Lance's perspective and his inner turmoil with questioning, internalized biphobia, and trying to balance his identity with his family's beliefs. There is going to be very prominent depression in this newer version. Frankly, Lance just isn't going to be doing so well. However, I promise to do my best to not allow my wishes for this to be a romance to erode the appropriate handling of mental health. A few hugs and kisses are not going to make Lance all better.   
I do wish for it to have a happy ending and have mapped out most of the story, however I will warn you all I have not figured out what that happy ending is yet. It could possibly be open-ended or a jump to the future. On the other hand, I do not want to do that kind of disservice to this story, relationships, mental health awareness, or my audience. So bear with me as I figure this out.   
The first chapter will likely take the longest for me to upload as I flesh this whole thing out and try to give it some minor proofreading. (I don't have a beta so I gotta do this all myself and I'm not gonna lie to y'all. I'm very lazy.)  
That's pretty much all I have to say for now. Thanks for sticking with this tiny thing for so long!   
Oh and patience will be very appreciated. I'm now in college and my schedule is hectic. I promise to not ditch this, it just might take me a decent amount of time to upload. Your comments and encouragements are appreciated, but please don't nag for updates.   
~I_am_a_Ruin


	3. Chapter Two: Cry Time and Lactose

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> both Lance and Keith struggle with insecurities while building a relationship. (And a ton of other silly things)

Lance

He hated it when he was shut out. He wasn’t sure which was more frustrating: the fact that he couldn’t contact his soulmate or the fact he couldn’t do the exact same back at him. And this was huge news, not time to be shut out.

Maybe his soulmate really did hate him. Which sucked because he was pretty sure he was totally in love. Lance wasn’t even sure how he could have fallen in love when he himself did most of the talking but… Soulmate did a lot beyond talking. He laughed when Lance told him a joke, and would project songs and other things into Lance’s head. Like when Lance was stressing out about being bisexual, he kept getting this feeling like he was being hugged. Like it was all going to be okay. It was what helped him come out to his Soulmate. He hadn’t expected to be shut out  _after_ the Soulmate found out who he had a crush on.

Winter break just made it worse. He tried multiple times to get in contact but it was more than a mental block. He couldn’t feel his soulmate’s presence at all. It was like before he had gone to college when there was just himself in his head. He thought it would be a relief. After all, the first month at college he had continuous nosebleeds and pounding migraines that would leave him in bed and unable to attend class. But he just felt scared and alone. He liked the presence of people too much. Even being around all his siblings and cousins didn’t help. They weren’t the reassuring presence in his head that he had always, even with the mental barricade up.

He had plenty of time to form theories in his head of why his Soulmate reacted so poorly to knowing who he was crushing on over winter break and the two weeks in which he returned to school with still no contact. (At least he knew he was still there.)

  1. His soulmate was pissed for Lance assuming he was a girl
  2. His soulmate was best friends with Keith
  3. His soulmate hated Keith (which was fair. Lance wasn’t even sure why he liked the guy so much.)
  4. His soulmate was super jealous (Which was kind of cool, in a way.)



He wouldn’t let himself think about the other possibility. There was no way. No way that Keith was...  No. He had already made assumptions and it took six months and near death for his soulmate to even talk to him.

He tried every single day to get in contact with his soulmate, but he couldn’t get around the buzzing mass blocking him. He just had to wait.

The second it disappeared, he was all over his soulmate. Angry and very hurt for being alone for so long. Lance tried to not clue him in about it. Lance wanted his soulmate to think of him as this happy go lucky guy. He wanted to make his soulmate happy. But he couldn’t control himself. His soulmate just instinctively knew everything. It was hard to hide things in your own head.

 _“I wasn’t_ ignoring  _you. We were gone.”_ his soulmate muttered and Lance wanted to cry. Maybe his soulmate just hated him with how much he spent ignoring Lance.

 _“We’ve been back for two weeks, dude.”_ Lance snapped, trying to channel his insecurity into anger.

_“I’m sorry. You didn’t do anything. I just… had a lot to think about.”_

_“Is this about me assuming you were a girl? Because I’m really sorry about that.”_ Lance asked, desperately grasping for something he could fix.

 _“No. I guess I kind of get it.”_ his soulmate sounded nervous and it was making Lance nervous too.

 _“Is this about Keith then? I knew you were mad about Allura but-”_ he started, still grappling for anything he could apologize for.

 _“Shut up for a second. I’m trying to tell you something.”_ Lance fell quiet, annoyance and more insecurity scrambling his thoughts. But then after several beats of silence, his soulmate sighed,  _“I don’t know how to tell you. Do you think we could meet?”_

The annoyance quickly faded into powerful excitement. His soulmate wanted to meet him! He was going to find out who his soulmate was. Surely if his soulmate didn’t like him he wouldn’t ask to meet. He would just tell him to fuck off and block him out forever. Right?

 _“Does that mean I’m allowed to talk now?”_ Lance teased, getting back at his soulmate as best as possible for leaving him alone for so long. When he didn’t respond, Lance tuned into his emotions. And Lance felt a wave of nausea. Oh that was so cute, his soulmate was so nervous. He smiled to himself and spoke up,  _“I don’t have class for an hour. We could… I don’t know. Do you know where the science building is? They have this cool room for the Gaming Club and I know for a fact it’s empty right now. We could meet there.”_

He received an affirmation and bolted down the block to the science building, almost forgetting to warn Hunk that Lance wouldn’t be home for awhile. He took his stairs two at a time, hopping down them, and totally foregoing the elevator. It was too stupid slow and he needed to move.

There was no one in the Gaming Club room when he got there and he took a deep breath. His soulmate was on his way. He was going to meet his fucking soulmate. Well, at least if the boy got there before Lance’s heart succeeded in throwing itself out of his chest. He heard someone coming and panicked, trying to figure out what to do. Should he just engulf the boy in a hug the second he walked in the door? No. No, his Soulmate was reserved, he probably would want a little space while they got comfortable with each other. Lance tugged his phone out of his pocket and had just gotten Angry Birds pulled up when the door opened. He looked up with a nervous smile and his heart decided to take the quickest route up his throat. What was Keith doing there?

He looked as awkward as ever, with his dumbass mullet, black t-shirt, and red flannel. But his black skinny jeans, on the other hand... Lance  _wasn’t staring._ He felt a wave of self-aware heat wash over him as he met Keith’s violet eyes. And Keith had his eyebrows raised, all expectantly.

“Oh. Hi. I’m… I’m sort of waiting for someone. But I can leave if you want.” Lance blurted out in one breath, shoving his phone in his pocket and preparing to leave.

_“Lance.”_

“Lance.”

It was this powerful, overwhelming kind of slap to the face, like Keith had taken a 2x4 and smacked him upside the head with it. He wanted to gawk and just bask in the glory of Keith being his soulmate. His wonderful, perfect, awesome soulmate. But he had a reputation of being a flirt. He had to get his shit together.

“So  _you’re_ my soulmate, huh?” He asked, trying to make it sound smooth and smug.

Keith stood there for a second, clearly between smiling and rolling his eyes. So nothing happened. He just stood there. Lance smiled a little.  _Dios Mio,_ Keith was unfairly cute.

“N-nevermind.” Keith said, backing away slowly.

“What?”

“I changed my mind.” Keith turned away and Lance’s jaw dropped.

“Hold on, you can’t just ru-”

“See you in class!” Keith called over his shoulder, sprinting down the hall.

He was pretty sure he could feel his heart sinking. That was too much. Way too much at once. First he found out this guy who made him question his whole entire fucking sexuality was actually his _soulmate,_ which was just way too good to be true, and then Keith just… bolted. Maybe he just decided Lance actually wasn't good enough for him. Like, he had started to think that it would work, but then he saw Lance’s idiotic face and changed his mind. Lance didn’t think he would blame him, honestly.

Lance was awful, right? He flirted with girls shamelessly, assumed his soulmate was a girl and fell in love with anyone that was slightly nice to him for five seconds. Not to mention, he was kind of stupid. He didn’t do all that well in school and tried to pass on his overconfidence.

He wasn’t sure how long he stayed in that room, staring at the door that had closed after Keith, drowning in his self-loathing before he snapped out of it and dragged himself back to his dorm room.

Hunk grinned at him when he came in. “How’d it go, buddy?”

Lance mustered up a smile. “Pretty good. We’re… uh… meeting up tomorrow!”

Hunk hesitated, staring a moment too long and sighed. “Okay.”

Lance breathed in relief mentally, heading towards his bed, thinking he was in the clear.

“So what really happened?”

****

Keith

Cold, sweet, creamy spoonfuls of goodness were his only comfort. He shovelled it into his mouth quickly, praying that Shiro wouldn’t notice. Shiro always kept all milk products out of their apartment and succinctly, away from Keith. Which was annoying. Just because Keith was lactose intolerant and a freshman to Shiro’s sophomore didn’t mean he couldn’t make his own decisions!

Maybe he was a masochist. Or maybe he just really hoped this delicious chocolate ice cream killed him so he wouldn’t have to face Lance again. Lance was just so fucking beautiful and he genuinely just couldn’t be this boy’s soulmate! He wasn’t good enough for Lance. Even Lance thought so. Lance wanted a girl this entire time, even he was bi. Lance probably just felt bad. Keith was like… a pity award.

More ice cream. Ice cream was good. Even if his stupid body disagreed.

He was starting to feel really sick, like in actual physical pain. He stared at the slightly soupy Ben & Jerry’s half-heartedly, flinching when he heard the door open. Shit. He was screwed.

Shiro was quiet and Keith dared to look up at him. “What the hell are you doing?”

“Eating ice cream,” Keith murmured, trying not to gag on the next bite. It still tasted awesome but his stomach was trying to rid itself of the poison.

Shiro opened his mouth to talk but Keith was already running to the kitchen sink, vomit in his mouth. He retched hard, doubled over the sink. When he was done, he sank weakly to his knees, groaning in pain. Shiro rolled his eyes and crouched down in front of Keith. “Are you done?”

Keith nodded, running the back of his hand over his mouth shakily. Shiro pulled him to his feet. “So are you going to tell me why the hell you did this?”

“I met Lance today.” Keith muttered, walking to his bed.

“Wait, your soulmate?” Shiro demanded, having not heard anything about Keith’s soulmate before.

“Mhm.”

Shiro tensed up. “Did he hurt you”

Keith sighed, knowing if he said yes (Which would be a flat out lie. The only fuck up here was Keith), then Shiro would probably kill Lance which wasn’t fair to anyone. So he just turned around. “No.” honesty, come on. Just own up before Shiro asks you. “He’s just… I’m not good enough for him.”

“Did he say that?” Shiro demanded, crossing his arms.

Keith shifted his weight awkwardly, trying to not groan in pain from the cramping in his stomach, “No.”

“So, the only person that thinks you aren’t good enough… is you? Again?” Shiro’s eyebrows were raised the way they did when Shiro knew he was right and Keith hated it.

Keith bit his lip hard to avoid swearing at him because Shiro really hated that. “Shut up.”

“Dude. You’ve got to stop being so insecure. If you push everyone away, you’ll never be happy. Now. Talk to him right now. You probably hurt his feelings.”

Keith opened his mouth to argue. There’s no way he hurt Lance’s feelings. Lance couldn’t possibly even care enough about Keith’s opinion to be hurt by anything Keith did. Besides, Lance didn’t even know him. The crush made sense. It was easy to crush on someone you didn’t know. No way Lance would like him if he knew him. He tuned into Lance’s thoughts semi-subconsciously and was shocked to feel waves of sadness rolling over him. Significantly stronger than his own. What?

 _“Go away, Keith.”_ Lance snapped, his voice clearly cracking which Keith hadn’t even realized was possible over a mental soulmate connection but it didn’t matter because Lance was clearly crying.

 _“Why are you crying?”_ Keith asked dumbly.

_“Just go away, I don’t want to talk to you.”_

_“No. Tell me why you’re crying.”_

_“It’s fine if you don’t fucking like me okay? Just… leave me alone.”_ Lance blurted out followed by an aborted sob.

 _“Why do you think I don’t like you?”_ Keith couldn’t understand. They shared this weird ass mental connection. How could Lance not realize how in love Keith was?

 _“Maybe because you didn’t talk to me for six months, ignored me for ninety percent of when you were talking to me, and ran away from me. I… get it okay? Just because I’m your soulmate doesn’t mean anything. I’m used to people not liking me back. Just fucking get it over with.”_ Lance’s voice was steadier, but Keith could hear the gasping between his sentences. Like Lance didn’t want him to know he was crying.

_“You’re such an idiot Lance.”_

Okay probably bad choice of words because Lance wasn’t even trying to hide his crying now. God. Keith wasn’t good with speaking, this wasn’t his area of expertise, why couldn’t Lance just get it.

 _“I’m lactose intolerant, did you know that?”_ Lance didn’t answer.  _“But I eat ice cream a lot, especially when I think about you because… I don’t even fucking know you just… It hurts to think about you.”_

_“Great. So you’d rather torture yourself than be with me. That’s great. Can I go now?” Lance asked, sounding so exhausted and injured._

_“No. You don’t get it. I… You make me really nervous. And… I sort of fucking love you. I just- it’s just, well, like, I think you deserve better. And clearly you want a girlfriend instead of me, which I get. It’s not your fault, you didn’t ask for a boy to be your soulmate-”_

_“Hold on, you ran away… because you’re_ scared  _I’ll reject you- for being a boy? Keith, I literally told you I have a crush on you. What part of me being bi don’t you understand?” Lance demanded._

_“My roommate is glaring at me. He thinks it’s important that you know, and I quote, ‘Keith Kogane is an insecure-”_

“What no! I’m not saying that.” Keith objected sitting upright too quickly and regretting it as his stomach rolled. “Urg.”

“Say it.” Shiro insisted.

 _“I’m an insecure idiot that’s scared of rejection.”_ Keith muttered, rolling his eyes.

“It’s true and you know it.” Shiro reminded him pointedly.

“Go find Matt or something.” Keith protested, sticking his tongue out at his friend like the child he was.

Shiro flushed and quickly left the room.

 _“So you’re in love with me?”_ Lance was asking smugly.

_“Oh, shut up.”_

**Author's Note:**

> Hope you enjoyed! If you did, stick around because as soon as I'm feeling better and have finished my Spierfeld fic, I'll be posting a sequel to this :D  
> Comments are deeply appreciated. And if you have any Klance fic recommendations, let me know.


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